Freeloading conman faces life ban from Capital hotels

Published on Friday 29 August 2008 10:21

A CONMAN is set to be banned for life from Edinburgh's top hotels after trying to trick his way into free stays.

Amit Khullar was arrested in a police raid on his room at the Radisson SAS on the Royal Mile.

He was the first person to be caught under a new intelligence-sharing scheme, CheckIn, launched by Edinburgh hoteliers.

The 34-year-old had booked three rooms at the Balmoral for four nights at a cost of 5100 after pretending to represent a travel firm.

The Londoner was planning to stay at the luxury hotel with his four relatives after sending fake faxes asking for his bill to be settled by the company.

But under CheckIn, reception workers were aware that a similar ruse had been used in December to defraud the Sheraton Grand Hotel out of a similar amount.

Suspicious staff asked Khullar for a credit card to authenticate his details but after making an excuse, he left and did not return.

Information and CCTV images of Khullar were circulated to the 30 other members of CheckIn, warning them about the scam.

Khullar then turned up at the Radisson SAS Hotel on the Royal Mile on Saturday trying the same trick. After quickly consulting with police, staff gave him and his family the keys to three rooms.

Officers raided the rooms a short time later and arrested him while his shocked family were taken for questioning.

It turned out that his family, which included his father, had no idea Khullar was not paying for their hotel stays and were under the impression he was generously treating them to holidays.

His embarrassed family paid the 2500 bill for the Radisson rooms while Khullar appeared in court on Monday.

He pleaded guilty to obtaining board and lodging by deception at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and received a 250 fine and an order to pay 250 in compensation.

Police are still investigating the case at the Sheraton, but it is understood that officers suspect he may have committed similar frauds across the UK.

CheckIn members are now expected to issue Khullar with a life ban from their establishments at their next meeting.

Inspector Bruce Johnston, sector inspector for the city centre, said: "We were contacted by the Radisson when he turned up there and we advised them to give him the rooms.

"It was then just a matter of picking him at the hotel because we had been alerted so early.

"CheckIn is proving a big success since it was launched in April as an early warning system."